Where the Road Leads
by snowdropped
Summary: "If Ukitake were standing with us here, I'm sure that's what he'd have said." A narration of Shunsui and Juushiro's friendship: They have made it through illnesses, betrayals and death; now, war threatens to tear them apart. Major spoilers for almost all major canon events up to the current manga (chapter 631).


**1201 - 1206**

"I'm Ukitake Juushiro," was the white-haired boy's reply to his own introduction. Not a single bat of an eyelash at the "Kyoraku" attached to the other student's name, just a polite smile and slight bow of his head. "Nice to meet you, Kyoraku-san."

They were classmates for six out of six years at the Academy and roommates for four. Six years of grueling training, of getting "Hado 31: Shakkaho!" exploding backwards in their faces, of playing Shunpo Tag, of challenging each other to sparring. Joined at the hip, even Yamamoto-sensei, who only visited the Academy on occasion, knew that the two of them were inseparable: as long as one was spotted, the other was nowhere far behind.

"The two of you work well together," sensei had said during one of their private classes. "Your personalities are different, and it shows in your swordplay, but they match up on the battlefield. Shunsui is carefree but Juushiro is steady, Shunsui is strong-willed but Juushiro is patient.

"Yes... you balance out well."

Shunsui and Juushiro had looked at each other, for a moment bemused.

/

Shunsui still remembers the tremor in his soul the day they learnt the name of their swords. At the same time, at the same place, the unleashing of two shikais. The shared adrenaline between him and Juushiro, in the middle of a barren battlefield crowded with Hollows momentarily stunned into submission at their explosion of reiatsu.

"Dual-wielders! Both of us! Can you believe this?!"

"No, Shunsui, I can't really," Juushiro had laughed, eyes bright and reiatsu humming in their room in the dormitories.

 **1206**

"Juu –" Shunsui was cut off as he shunpoed into their room. The other boy had turned around from his desk to look at him, breaking out into the widest smile Shunsui had ever seen him in. It was an expression Shunsui was sure his own face mirrored, and it was all too easy to understand what they wanted to tell each other. Shunsui crossed the room in a single step, gripped the other in a hug.

"Sixth," Shunsui whispered into the warmth of Juushiro's chest. "Under Kuchiki-taicho."

"Tenth. Shiba-taichou."

They were, at the time, the youngest seated officers in the whole of the newly formed Gotei 13.

/

There was a certain melancholy on the day they packed up their room for the last time. They walked to the entrance of the dormitory building together, where they would go their separate ways for the last time as students of the Academy.

"I'll see you in the Gotei," Juushiro said.

Shunsui paused at the gate, right before they turned to walk away. In that instant, the weight of the future seemed ominous. The Gotei was a heaven and earth away from the safety of the Academy.

"Do you think we will live past our first year?" he asked, throat scratchy.

There was a pause, then a thin hand on his shoulder, the grip strong and familiar. "Yes, I think we'll be fine for the first year."

 **1295**

The call came one day when he was sparring with his third seat. "Kyoraku-fukutaicho, Kuchiki-taicho is asking for your immediate presence!"

Shunsui blinked. He had done nothing wrong this time. (the little voice at the back of his head whispered: are you sure sneaking Kuchiki-taicho's sake was a good idea?) Nonetheless, he nodded to the messenger and apologized to his sparring partner, before heading to the captain's office.

"Kyoraku-kun," his captain said the moment he entered. "Here, take this."

It was a plain white envelope. Shunsui stared at it, then looked up to his captain. Kuchiki Ryouichi was a stoic man, like all Kuchikis were, but there a smile at the edges of his lips. "You can open it, Kyoraku-kun."

He slowly opened the envelope, heart leaping into his throat.

"Shunsui Sōzōsuke Jirō Kyōraku, Lieutenant of the Sixth Division of the Gotei Thirteen

 _Invitation to take the Captain Proficiency Test for promotion to Captain of the Eighth Division of the Gotei Thirteen_ …"

Shunsui's jaw dropped as he looked at his captain. How had he known? Shunsui _had_ achieved Bankai and was in fact on his way to mastering its finer aspects, but – he had not shown a single soul. Not even Juushiro!

"The change was evident enough to me," his captain said, reading his mind. "Your stance changed, as did your combat style. You are ready, Kyoraku-kun. Will you not go for the Test?"

Shunsui drew a deep breath. Kyokotsu, the more outspoken of his two zanpakuto spirits, fanned herself lazily deep inside his soul. 'What's stopping you, Shunsui? It's a big step, but it's a stage you knew you would eventually reach.'

She had a point, loathe as he was to admit it. He met his captain's eyes again, and gave a bow from the waist. "Thank you, Kuchiki-taicho. I will not disappoint you _."_

/

The test was one week later. At the grounds, he was pacing around, trying to hide his growing nervousness. Even Katen Kyokotsu was fluttering slightly, and it did nothing to help his nerves.

"Shunsui," someone called as the familiar buzz of shunpo sounded next to his left ear. "You too?"

He turned around. _Juushiro_. Not that it should have surprised him, really. "…too? Which Division?"

If they were fighting for the same Divis –

"Thirteenth," Juushiro smiled, then added, "I'm really nervous."

"Maa, you'll be fine," Shunsui said, knowing that Juushiro would see through any attempt on his part to pretend that he was not close to a panic attack. "You weren't in Yama-jii's class for nothing, Juushiro."

"Neither were you," his friend replied.

/

When the test ended, the excitement would have been overwhelming if not for Juushiro's calm and reassuring presence by his side. They had done well, judging from the looks of their captains' faces.

"In attendance for the Fifteenth Captain Proficiency Test, Captain-Commander Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni, Captains …"

He was going to miss the Sixth, Shunsui thought as they listened to the results of the test being announced. His captain had given him a lot to learn from.

Kuchiki-taicho turned around just then to look Shunsui in the eye. There was a wide smile on his face now. It seemed so wildly out of character for his infamously cold and emotionless captain, that for a moment the surreality of the situation seemed to escape him.

He shunpoed to his captain's side.

"Thank you, Kuchiki-taicho."

"You earned your position well, Kyoraku-kun," his captain said. "With you as a captain, the Gotei can only become stronger."

Shunsui gave him a deep bow once again as a final show of his gratitude.

"As of today, following the Fifteenth Captain Proficiency Test, the Captains of the Gotei Thirteen shall be as follows," the voice read. "First Division, Captain-Commander Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni. Second Division, Captain Shihouin Yuzuki. Third Division, Captain Ryuu Takara. Fourth Division, Captain Inaba Hideki. Fifth Division, Ito Katashi. Sixth Division, Kuchiki Ryouichi. Seventh Division, Captain Urakami Chiyo."

Shunsui drew a deep breath.

"Eighth Division, Captain Kyouraku Shunsui."

Everything faded to white noise for a moment, as relief washed over him. But it was not over, not yet, until he _knew_ that Juushiro was in this with him.

"Ninth Division, Captain Kogo Saito. Tenth Division, Captain Shiba Kichirou. Eleventh Division, Captain Unohana Yachiru. Twelfth Division, Captain Nabeshima Kohaku. Thirteenth Division, Captain Ukitake Juushirou."

He breathed out. There was a pleased gleam in Yama-jii's eyes, and he could very well guess why. They had just become the first graduates of the Academy to attain Captaincy _._

Juushiro was on him before he had time to think any more, right before the other captains in the room crowded around them to give their congratulations.

 **Intermission**

Rasping coughs filled the room, a stark contrast to the peaceful rustle of the paulownia trees outside.

"I feel like dying," the figure lying on the bed said, letting a soft laugh slip past his dry lips.

"You don't mean that," Shunsui returned easily. _You can't mean that, Juushiro._

He was sitting by Juushiro's bedside with a pile of papers on the table next to him, but his attention was on the sparrows on the ground outside the window.

"It's tiring, Shunsui," Juushiro said. He was looking out of the window too, at the soft pink flowers moving in the gentle spring breeze. "It feels like each time might be my last. Death seems much easier sometimes."

A feeling of bile rose up in his throat, burning and twisting his insides.

"Do you hear yourself, Juushiro?" Shunsui's voice was a forced calmness. "Do you know how selfish –" But Juushiro could never be selfish, had never, would never.

"I hear myself nice and clear," Juushiro retorted, eyes bright in the paleness of his face. "Look, Shunsui, you're not the one who – "

He was interrupted by yet another fit of coughs. There was a rush for the ceramic pot and the clean cloths lying at the foot of the bed. There was some blood. Less than Juushiro's worst episodes, but still blood nonetheless. It made Shunsui shudder to know that one day, this illness would take Juushiro somewhere he could not follow.

After the coughing subsided, Juushiro drifted off into an uneasy slumber. In the peacefulness of the room, Shunsui took the chance to focus on going through the stack of paperwork he had brought from the Thirteen Division's office. Usually he would try to escape from doing work, but he had promised Juushiro that he would help him manage his responsibilities while the latter was still recovering. Since Juushiro's vice-captain assured him that she would be able to handle the training aspects of the Division, she had essentially given him all the paperwork to do instead, to Shunsui's chagrin.

"It's unusual to see you so focused," Juushiro murmured, surprising Shunsui from where he was skimming through a report on Hollows disappearing without explanation in the 57th District.

"It's your paperwork I'm doing and you know how particular Tsuchiya-chan gets," Shunsui pointed out. "This doesn't happen much in my office."

"Shintani-kun has much too high a tolerance for your laziness," Juushiro laughed. "I should tell him to be stricter with you."

Shunsui feigned disappointment and pouted, but the effect had been long lost with Juushiro. "Recover soon and you can do that. Did Inaba-taicho change your medicine formula? Is it more effective this time?"

A heavy sigh escaped Juushiro's lips. "Yes, she changed my medication, but I'm afraid nothing really helps with my… condition."

At Shunsui's confused face, he sighed again. "In summary, my body's living on borrowed time."

Shunsui was silent, waiting for his friend to continue speaking. This was the first time they had had a proper conversation about Juushiro's illness – condition – since their first meeting all those years ago, and he wasn't sure if he would like what he was about to find out.

"I was almost killed by my illness when I was three years old," Juushiro said, raking his fingers through tangled white hair. "The doctors said I was a lost cause but my parents insisted on bringing me to the shrine of Mimihagi. They asked Mimihagi to take away my lungs, which Mimihagi did.

"Mimihagi took the place of my lungs, and now resides in my body. I've survived this long but –" Juushiro took a deep breath, then continued, his words coming out in a rush. "I don't know how much longer I have."

Mimihagi. A fallen god of Soul Society, the Right Hand of the Soul King. Shunsui had heard of Mimihagi before, but had never heard of Mimihagi taking up residence in any soul's body before. Up until Juushiro, that was.

He was still trying to wrap his head around the entire thing when he noticed the somber look on Juushiro's face. He was looking hard at Shunsui, as if he was expecting some kind of reaction. Shunsui shrugged.

"You're still Juushiro, aren't you? As long as you're alive, that's good enough, Mimihagi or not."

 **1901**

"Shunsui," Juushiro's voice was a piercing light in the darkness. Painfully bright, burning the edges of his alcohol-dulled senses. "Shunsui." Firmer now, sterner. An undercurrent of worry. Juushiro had always been one to worry.

"This isn't the way, Shunsui." A shake of the shoulders, a sigh. "Shunsui, listen."

"I sent her," throbbing regret and remorse. "She would still be here if not for me."

A soft thump opposite him. A cold hand on the heated skin of his fingers, removing the sake bottle clasped tightly within. "Shunsui, this isn't what Yadomaru-san would want."

He shifted his arms, covered what little Juushiro could see of his face from where he was lying on the table. "She wanted the experience, and I gave it to her. I asked her to go. And look where _that_ got her."

"You made the decision that you thought was right," Juushiro sighed. "Nobody could have expected this, Shunsui."

"Don't worry about me, Ukitake-taichou." Juushiro's reiatsu spiked slightly at the formal address; they had not called each other by their last names since their Academy days.

There was silence, stretching a chasm across the room. He would have thought that Juushiro had left, but the familiar pulsing of Juushiro's reiatsu told him otherwise. Even the division was quiet, Shunsui noted belatedly. No clashing of swords at the outdoor training grounds, no wayward explosions from the newest batch of Academy graduates – no sliding of doors and irate shouts about paperwork from – Shunsui cut off his train of thought. He could deal with this. He did not need anyone's pity.

Except: Juushiro was offering him no pity, only comfort. For that, some deep part of Shunsui's soul felt guilty. Juushiro, who of all people knew best the value of life, and of making the most out of every day. But he did not want comfort now, comfort could come later. There was something wrong in this whole episode and Shunsui wanted to make sense of it.

There was something _wrong_ , beyond just how Lisa and the others had just been sentenced to death without a trial. Central 46 had sunk to a whole new low in his eyes at that point, but when Central 46 declared it a closed case after they went missing – that was ridiculous; it was like someone had placed a spell on them.

"I will take my leave," Juushiro said at last, apparently having decided that watching Shunsui mope was not in his job scope. There was a rustling from Juushiro's side of the table, then the sound of the door sliding open. Juushiro took one step out of the Eighth Division's office and –

"Juu," Shunsui said, voice muffled and buried in the sleeve of his kimono. "Will you be in your quarters tonight?"

It was a question, a request. Juushiro understood.

"Yes."

The door slid close.

 **1955**

"Was I wrong?"

The question sliced the heavy atmosphere weighing between them, bitter on Juushiro's tongue. They were back in Ugendo again, Juushiro still recovering from the bout of illness that he had suffered the night Shiba Kaien lost his life.

Shunsui tipped his hat up to look at Juushiro from under the brim. His friend was looking away from him, at the framed artwork hanging on the wall near the closet. It had been an _oseibo_ gift from Kaien the year before, a hand-painted landscape of a lake surrounded by willow trees.

He frowned. He recognized all too well what Juushiro was thinking, since he had done the exact same thing with Lisa previously.

"Nobody's in the position to rule what is right and what is wrong, Juushiro."

A pause.

"What would you have done?"

Oh no, they were not going there. Not going into the zone of 'What-if'. Shunsui knew very well how toxic it could be to realize that maybe something could have been done differently, and maybe the outcome might have been different.

"Do you regret your choice?" Juushiro frowned; Shunsui loved to dance around topics he didn't want to talk about. Besides, that was a ridiculous question.

"Of course I regret it! I lost my lieutenant, for gods' sake, Shunsui. If I'd stepped in, if I'd –" his fists were clenched around the white sheets of his bed, and damn _it_ , Juushiro cursed internally at the stinging of his eyes.

"Hush," Shunsui had moved, arms steady around his friend. "You knew the dangers, but you did it for Kaien-kun. He set out to regain his honour, and he managed to. He was happy when he died, wasn't he?"

There was a sniffle against the robes of his kimono, but Juushiro made no more protest as he leaned into Shunsui.

"Stop blaming yourself," Shunsui rumbled. "It's nobody's fault except whoever experimented with that Hollow."

He lowered his head; there was definitely something stirring in the depths of Soul Society, and it was not pretty.

 **Interlude**

Night was upon them, and with it were the cool breezes that chased away the last vestiges of the day's heat.

They were sitting on the Eighth Division's porch, Nanao having excused herself from the two captains some time ago. She was growing well into the shoes Lisa had left behind, to Shunsui's satisfaction. She would not be Lisa, but she was Nanao, powerful in her own special way.

"What are you thinking about?"

Shunsui hummed. There was a lot he wanted to ask Juushiro about, but he knew that the enemy – whoever it was – was probably watching and listening. Soul Society was dangerous, but they had nowhere else to go.

He made a face at Juushiro, one that Juushiro evidently recognized from their Academy days. It spelt _I want to tell you something but there's someone listening so I can't_. Back then, he pulled it whenever one of their teachers did something ridiculous that he had to comment on immediately, but said teacher was likely breathing down his back so it would not be a smart decision to talk. Now... He hoped Juushiro understood what he meant.

There was a quirk of a black eyebrow before the expression fled from Juushiro's face, replaced with a wicked glint in his eye.

 _Really, after all these years?_ was written in the little twitch at the corners of his lips. _I don't even know if we still can do it._

Shunsui tilted his hat. _No harm trying._

They closed their eyes, feeling for the strands of each other's reiatsu. It took some time before Juushiro could identify a single strand through the thick mass that was Shunsui's reiatsu, and the same for Shunsui with Juushiro's, but eventually they made it, tangling and tripping into a separate dimension.

This dimension was the conjoining of their inner worlds. They had not entered it for a few centuries now, having first accidentally tripped into each other's inner world when they were in the Academy. Until now, neither of them understood how or why it had happened.

Somewhere down the line, they had managed to forge a separate dimension, something that was unheard of in Shinigami academia. Each Shinigami's inner world was intimately _private_ , the Academy had taught them. It was not right to be able to enter another's inner world, to be privy to their deepest secrets and darkest emotions.

Even back then, they had not gone to Yama-jii for help, instead learning how to control the dimension by themselves and with each other. Of course, knowing how dangerous it was to enter an inner world that was not their own, to risk ensnaring themselves in another's soul, they had refrained from entering without explicit permission.

Here was equal parts darkness and equal parts light. There was a small graveyard with a coffin in the center at the edges of the dimension, sheltered by a sakura tree; pink petals were falling at random over it, while a few bones lay haphazardly around. The other side of the dimension was a small park with a tranquil pond with two fish swimming lazily inside.

"What are you doing here?" an irritated voice huffed from Shunsui's side. He looked down at the dark-haired girl who had materialized herself, her brows drawn together and her hand on her sword.

"Katen," he gave a lopsided grin. "I'm just here to get some reprieve from the dangers of the outside world. I need to have a private word with Juushiro."

Katen scowled, but did not comment further after a sidelong look at Sogyo no Kotowari's spirits. The pair of twins had jumped on their wielder without mercy, and were currently begging him to play Kido tag with them.

"Not now, Sogyo no Kotowari," Juushiro laughed after he was tackled to the ground by one of the twins. "Let me talk with Shunsui first, please?"

Sogyo no Kotowari nodded, before dematerializing themselves into their fish forms, swimming inside the small pond. Katen had done the same, returning to her form as the sakura tree. Shunsui noted with interest that Kyokotsu had not even bothered to greet him, instead having just shifted herself so that the bones lying around the coffin were in a more organized state.

"Hello to you too, Kyokotsu," he said with a tip of his hat. Two bones knocked together and he smiled with understanding.

"So, what was so important that we had to jump in here after eight hundred years?" Juushiro asked as Shunsui ambled towards the park bench where he had already settled down.

"Something is wrong with Soul Society," Shunsui said, choosing to just cut to the chase..

Juushiro arched an eyebrow.

"You and I know very well what I mean," Shunsui waved vaguely with his right hand. "Things have been happening, and they spell trouble."

"You mean that day, Kaien and Shiba-san, don't you?"

Shunsui nodded. "Someone's been messing with Hollows, trying to achieve something from harnessing Shinigami and Hollow powers. I don't know what that means, and I don't know who it is, but I have a pretty small list of people to consider.

"My prime suspects are from the Fifth Division. Aizen-kun and Ichimaru-kun, to be precise. Aizen-kun was Shinji-kun's lieutenant, but he handled the entire… exile issue much better than anyone from the affected divisions. That, considering he was Shinji-kun's lieutenant for all of a hundred and fifty years, is not emotionally right." Shunsui, noticing Juushiro opening his mouth to say something, held up his hand to ask Juushiro to wait. "He doesn't look the type, I know, Juushiro, but something about him is _off_.

"And Ichimaru-kun… he unsettles me, like he unsettles a lot of people. It's almost like he does it on purpose, you know? But I feel he tries to unsettle everyone intentionally, almost as if he's trying to hide his true intentions."

Juushiro was staring at him like he had grown two heads. Shunsui sighed. He was probably wrong in his assumption, then.

"Maybe I'm over-thinking again," he said at length, when Juushiro did not respond. "It's okay. Forget we had – "

"No, wait, Shunsui!" Juushiro sounded slightly frantic. "I'm trying to catch up with this. You just dumped a load of information on me that can probably feed the Seireitei library a few encyclopedias."

"You exaggerate," Shunsui retorted, but let out a relieved breath that he had not been shot down immediately. Juushiro was, after all, the more practical one between the two of them. He was about to lie back and look at the cherry blossoms falling when another thought occurred to him.

"On that night – I was out and about when I saw Aizen-kun near the Fifth Division barracks. Now that I think about it closely, I don't remember sensing his reiatsu. It was as if the one that greeted me was not him."

"An illusion?" Juushiro supplied. "Some form of high-level kido? Aizen-san is good at kido, after all. But wait," he frowned, "I remembering sensing his reiatsu that night. I woke up in the middle of that night because my lungs hurt, and he was moving past my Division."

"Your Division? So he was most likely outside of Seireitei." Everyone entering Seireitei had to pass by the Thirteenth's official barracks, no matter which route they took.

"Yes. I think your concerns are valid, Shunsui. I've been feeling unsettled recently as well, with all the unexplained incidents that have been waved off without any question. Central 46 is apathetic, but not to such an extent."

"What is Aizen's zanpakuto again?" Shunsui asked. "I've never actually seen him use it in battle."

Juushiro considered the question for a while, before he called for Sogyo no Kotowari, who materialized themselves instantly, looking more mature than previously. Shunsui was always amazed at how the pair could appear as either five-year-old children or young adults, though they definitely preferred the former option.

"Yes, Juushiro?"

"Sogyo no Kotowari – have you ever met Aizen-san's zanpakuto spirit? Don't give me that face, I know the two of you snoop around other Shinigami inner worlds under the pretense of being little children."

One of the twins – Azuma, Shunsui reminded himself, since he was standing on the right – pulled a face, but exchanged a look with his twin, who shrugged.

"Nishi and I don't like Aizen-san's zanpakuto spirit. She's dangerous, dark and full of secrets," he said.

"That's a first, coming from you," Kyokotsu drawled, appearing in front of the Shinigami in a burst of shunpo. "I wouldn't have expected us to ever agree on something in this lifetime."

"What!" the other twin – Nishi – protested, looking slightly insulted. "She's creepy!"

"That, I have to agree with," Kyokotsu said. "His zanpakuto is called Kyoka Suigetsu, and she is full of tricks. She hides behind mirrors, and she is extremely cold to others. Just ask the two of them," she pointed at the twins, who had mirroring sad expressions.

"We haven't even talked to her since a century ago because she was mean to us," said the twins.

"Is that so?" Shunsui said, slightly amused at the array of facial expressions Sogyo no Kotowari were showing. What little of Kyokotsu's face he could see was curved up into a small smirk, and he knew that spelled the beginnings of yet another of their zanpakutos' arguments. The spirits were good friends, but they bickered like little children all the time, much to their wielders' exasperation. "I think that's enough for now, Kyokotsu. Thank you." She vanished without another word.

"Thanks, Sogyo no Kotowari," Juushiro smiled. The twins reached for each other before disappearing as well.

"Well, that's that then. A suspicious zanpakuto and a suspicious wielder can't be good news, can it?"

Juushiro nodded, worry creasing his features.

 **August 2001**

"Shunsui," Juushiro snapped from where he had just appeared in front of the Eighth Division captain. He had just flash stepped across three-quarters of Seireitei after receiving the news.

"I know," Shunsui replied, voice unusually calm and collected. "I got the news."

"Central 46 is not replying to my appeals, and a Captain is dead."

"So I heard," Shunsui said again, lowering his hat to look at Juushiro. "Things are starting to play out."

Juushiro nodded. "I sincerely hoped it would not boil down to this, but… perhaps things were not as we predicted?"

Shunsui shrugged. "Who knows. The moment of truth is nearing."

"I'll be going first. I'll see you at the Hill."

"Don't be late."

/

"What happens next?"

"Beats me, Juushiro," Shunsui said as he touched the bandage wrapping his wrist. "At least I'm free from paperwork for the time being."

"Trust you to think about paperwork at a time like this," Juushiro said with the snort he reserved for Shunsui. "We just destroyed the Soukyoku, did battle with Yamamoto-sensei, got the foundations of the Gotei 13 shaken up, lost three Captains, and the Seireitei is on Red Alert, you know."

"Nothing a bit of sake can't solve," Shunsui replied cheerily, waving a bottle of said drink in his uninjured hand.

Juushiro stifled the urge to roll his eyes, but sat down anyway.

 **1 November 2002**

"Juushiro? Juushiro!" The voice was fading in and out of Juushiro's hearing, and some remote part of his mind noted that it sounded familiar.

 _Shunsui? Why can't I open my eyes?_

/

"…hurts…" was the first word out of Juushiro's chapped lips when he finally forced his eyes open.

"Of course it does," Shunsui said from the chair, where he was writing something. "You had a hole blown through your chest, you know."

Juushiro winced. "That kid really _hurt_ , and it's not like you escaped any better." Shunsui was wrapped in bandages, but evidently he had grown tired of lying down and had pleaded with Retsu-senpai to let him sit up.

"I wasn't floating in a concussion unlike someone else," Shunsui retorted, but his voice contained no heat. "You really scared me, you know?"

"I hope I get to scare you many more times in the future, then."

"Please go easy on my heart," Shunsui said, but a smile tugged at his lips anyway. "Aizen's locked up, by the way."

"Ichigo-kun did well, then?"

"Yes, he did." Shunsui conveniently neglected telling Juushiro that in his quest to save Soul Society, Ichigo had given up all his shinigami powers and abilities. He felt a twinge of guilt at the omission of truth, but it would do Juushiro no good either to feel guilty about it, which was quite likely to happen.

"What does it say of us, Shunsui, that a human boy had to save a world he does not even belong in?"

"That there are many things out there with possibilities beyond our own comprehension. Don't think so much, Juushiro. You'll be able to worry about things like this when you recover fully."

/

Needless to say, after he found out the omitted truth, Juushiro was not pleased with Shunsui at all.

 **June 2003**

He said it to women frequently enough, but he barely ever said it to Juushiro, though the other was the most deserving of those words.

Now though, circumstances called for it. The war had claimed enough lives, and every minute that passed was a minute closer to the breaking of what uneasy peace they had now.

"Juushiro?" If his voice wavered, Juushiro didn't comment on it.

"Mm."

"I don't want to ever lose you."

A moment of quiet, punctured by their breathing.

"Me too."

/

He had learnt about the Kamikake a few centuries ago. Mimihagi _was_ , after all, the Right Hand of the Soul King. Never had he expected that they would actually call for the invocation of Kamikake, never had he expected that the war would overwhelm the Royal Realm.

They had been complacent, Shunsui knew. Complacency had been their downfall, had been the loss of many lives. It was now the herald that sounded the arrival of Kamikake, of Juushiro's final sacrifice.

"I'll see you when I see you," he said to Juushiro, praying against prayers that he could show Juushiro exactly how much he wished he would see him again.

The odds were unlikely, but Shunsui clung on to hope like the tail of a phoenix.

"Where are you going?" Juushiro's voice was alarmed; he was worried for Shunsui, as always, as had been for a millennium. He was fearful, Shunsui realized. Fearful that Shunsui would go somewhere he could not follow.

 _Juushiro, you diot. That should be what I fear, that is what I have feared all these years._

"I have questions that need answering," Shunsui replied at length. ( _I would rather stay here, with you, till the end of days_.)

As he turned away, he took one last look at Juushiro, and Juushiro him, etching the image of that white figure in his memory forever, if forever never came.

/

 _Maybe I should have told him how much I love him_ , he thought to himself as he finally reached the Twelfth Division's laboratories to find Juushiro lying slumped in Kotsubaki's arms, deathly pale and still.

One look at the third seat was enough to confirm what he suspected – Kamikake had been activated, but something had gone wrong somewhere.

He set his jaw, willing himself to look away from Juushiro's prone body. He would not remember Juushiro like this, not in this helpless, hopeless form. He would remember Juushiro as he was smiling in the sun, as he was laughing in the rain, as he was standing amidst the devastated rubble that was Seireitei, the single bright constant that had never faded.

/

As the other captains begin to panic, as what little of the Gotei left starts to fear, he steps on the reformed ground of the Soul Palace with a new vow burning in his heart. He will go down fighting for the Seireitei and Juushiro, because…

"If Ukitake were here, that's what he'd say," he says to them, unwilling to meet their eyes. "We need to keep moving."

 _You should be here, Juushiro. I cannot see where the road leads, if you are not here._

/

The first thing he sees when he regains consciousness is long white hair and green eyes.

"So I'm dead?" is the first thing out of Shunsui's mouth. "Reunited with you at long last," he says, a sad smile tugging at his lips.

"And why would you think that I'm dead?" Juushiro replies, face schooled into an expression of mock dismay.

Shunsui blinks intelligently, uncomprehending. He tries to sit up, to reach for Juushiro, who is _so far away_ he can't be real – until he feels a stab of pain near his abdomen, a trickle of warm liquid, and a very real hand grabbing his shoulder, the gentle force pushing him back down a big contrast against the pain that he is feeling.

"You're not fully recovered yet," Juushiro chides, concern in his eyes. "I told the Fourth Division to just treat the worst of your wounds and I would take over the rest, but there are some injuries that are still mending."

He receives a small nod in way of thanks from Shunsui, who is still looking at him like he can't quite believe he's there.

Juushiro sighs. "The other captains told me you went into that final fight looking like you had a death wish. Care to explain?"

Shunsui furrows his brow in concentration, trying to remember what little he can. All he can call to mind is a bone-deep despair, a regret that burned in the deepest depths of his soul.

"I never got to say sorry to you," he admits at last, wishing for the safety of his hat so that he can avoid looking at Juushiro. But his hat is gone, missing, blown away (destroyed?) together with the last of Wahrwelt and Yhwach, and nothing shields him from Juushiro's gaze.

Juushiro understands what he means.

"You didn't force me to use Kamikake, Shunsui," Juushiro reminds him lightly. "It was my choice."

Shunsui cannot bring himself to look the other in the eye, something that has not happened in a long while, but he feels the guilt slowly ebb away at Juushiro's words. "I wouldn't have forgiven you if you died and didn't let me follow you," he says, even as his gaze wanders to the other shinigami and Quincy lying prone on the ground.

Ichigo is sitting on the ground, arms waving as he talks to the ryoka Quincy boy – Ishida, was it? – with a scowl on his face. The Quincy – Shunsui can't quite recall the specifics, but it seems that there was an internal revolt and most of them turned against Yhwach in the end – two of them are standing apart from the rest, one the pink-haired Quincy rebel leader, the other the blond Sternritter grandmaster. An unlikely pair, but Shunsui has learnt to not take things at face value.

"I wouldn't imagine otherwise," Juushiro chuckles, taking his hand. This is not a dream, Shunsui reminds himself. He pinches himself with his free hand anyway, and winces when it stings. "Go back to sleep, Shunsui. When you wake up we'll be back in Seireitei."

"Mm. Are you going to protect me while I'm unconscious?"

"Of course."

* * *

Some inspiration taken from Twin Souls by liralenli.

Most of this story was written with reference to material found on Bleach Wikia, especially in regards to the Timeline of Events. Names of original characters were from Wikipedia (for noble Japanese names) and Behind the Name (for their first names).br /

Manga references were taken from mangafox and mangapanda.

Sogyo no Kotowari have no individual names, but for purposes of writing and visualization, I have named them Azuma and Nishi, East and West. This is in correspondence to the constellation Pisces which Sogyo no Kotowari is named after; Pisces is most commonly identified by the Eastern and Western fishes.

This story was born after the recent events in the manga, especially in chapter 628: New World Orders. It started off more as an exploration of Juushiro's importance to Shunsui, but somehow it expanded into these 6000 words, so I just let them go where they wanted to.

Many of my personal head canons are present in here, such as Shunsui and Juushiro suspecting foul play from an early stage, but being smart enough to not let Aizen know that they were watching him. Of course, they were not aware of the full scale of Aizen's plot, so they were still caught unawares when the Soul Society arc took place.

Also, I believe that the Gotei 13 was started either by the employment of 1. mercenaries, which explains why the first Gotei was labelled 'violent' by Yhwach or 2. noble families, which is why many of the 'captains' seen in this story are nobility.

And yes, that is ninja!Bazz/Hash that I included at the very end. Following the latest chapter, 631: Friends, I couldn't help but sneak a reference to them.

Please forgive any poor characterization of Juushiro and Shunsui, it is my first time writing either of them, much less as central characters of a story. Feedback on my writing would be much appreciated.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it. Do leave a review on your way out!


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